Survival Of The Fittest

Raidon sat and waited.

He had gone to the Mr. Robinati's Chemistry room, the home of the school's Chess/Strategic games Club. It had been a few months since his last time here: he had been busy, working to get his grades up, his finals done, everything in order...

But he had done it. And done it perfectly. His g.p.a. was a solid 4.0.

He sighed, relaxed back in his seat. He was feeling unusually edge, lately, with their upcoming graduation. He had been accepted to Dartmouth, Minnesota University, and even Tokyo University--though this was mainly on his father's legacy--and had ultimately decided on Dartmouth--he'd been tempted by Tokyo, but there were simply too many bad memories in Japan. But what did he want to do with his life? What could he do with his life?

Raidon had never found a passion in his life, and it infuriated him. What was there to do, to love? Strategy was the only thing he'd ever found entertaining, and he had no interest in the military. What to do, then? What could he...?

Raidon sighed again and waited for someone to show up. Hoping for an opponent. Hoping for something that could distract him from his creeping angst.

(( William Roger Haig continued from One Pen Two Pen Red Pen Blue Pen ))

William had always been a fan of strategy games, be it Risk, Checkers, Civilization, Command and Conquer, the list went on for some time.

It was for this precise reason that he was stopping by the Chemistry room on this particular day, he didn't have all that much to do for the time being, and figured he could use the distraction. Sure, it wouldn't be for long with Grad coming up and all, but hey, he could spend his last days in high school doing worse things.

Getting his bearings here, William glanced around for anyone that he could play against. To be perfectly honest, he wasn't entirely sure he was supposed to be here, was it some kind of thing only open to members? Oh well, it's not like it was that important, it's a high school club, not some elite social circle, despite what some people might think. "It's only four years after all." He mumbled quietly to himself.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he remembered why he was here, strategy games. Glancing about, he noticed Raidon sitting alone. Feeling particularly bold today, he approached the other student.
"Hey, mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Seeing as you are the only opponent around," he grunted, looking at the empty seats. There were two freshman in one corner with Yu-Gi-Oh cards in hand, but he did feel inclined to count them as 'opponents'. "I must insist." He gestured towards the seat across from, and then to the games on the wall. "Pick your poison, if you will," Raidon asked, smiling. "It has been some time since I played, and I would like a challenge."

He waited as the other boy moved to the wall and picked the game he wanted, and asked, "It is William, isn't it? Do you come here often?"

"Pick your poison, if you will," Raidon asked, smiling. "It has been some time since I played, and I would like a challenge."

Well, in that case, William supposed he had to live up to the hopes of his opponent, and glanced at the wall that was motioned to. Approaching it, he skimmed over the titles of all of them, looking for one that seemed appropriate. To be completely honest, he was a fan of most of them, being a large fan of strategy games.
"Hmm… Two players… Well, only one thing for this I suppose." He mumbled to himself, grabbing a chess game. It had been a while since he had actually played chess against another person instead of his computer.

"It is William, isn't it? Do you come here often?"

"Hmm?" He asked, turning back to Raidon. "Oh yeah, it is William." He said, nodding, "Raidon, right?" He then asked in response. "Oh, and no, actually, I don't come here very often at all. Actually, it's my first time being here." He continued, walking back to the table and putting the chess game down on the table.
"I certainly hope this will do." He commented, taking a seat.

((Michelle O'Cain continued from Shutterbug))

Michelle walk into Mr. Robinati's chemistry class without quite thinking ahead. She wasn't bored but she wasn't motivated to do anything. Reading a few historical books was fun and all but eventually you need something else to do or else the thing would get boring quickly and Michelle did not want her books to get boring. She knew this was the Startegy/Chess club after school hours and figured it was worth visiting one day or another.

Walking into the classroom she look at the two groups that were there. One was two freshman with some sort of card game and the other were more older students who seem to be starting a chess game. Michelle always watch these strategy games but never played them. She found they were barred by to many rules. Real strategy had no rules and many variables to work with.

Oh well she might as well watch. Calmly walking towards the two Michelle grab a chair and sat beside Raidon to watch the game from his point of view. She really didn't felt like introducing herself but she knew it be awkward if she didn't.

"My name is Michelle... Umm... I'm just here to watch so please just keep playing your game" She said awkwardly and left it to that.

((Simon Fletcher continued from The Calm))

Mr. Robinati's classroom had been the home of the Chess and Strategic Games Club for as long as Simon had been at the school. He had joined when he was a freshman, and had gradually moved up to the point where the other members of the club at least respected his abilities. He was far from the most intelligent student there (he would also joke that being in the Chess Club room lowered his ego every time), and thoroughly enjoyed a match with other students.

The club was mostly empty at the moment. This wasn't much of a surprise to Simon; it wasn't the most popular school activity. Some of the chess boards was old and chipped due to the meager funding it received. This had been a common grip of most members for a long time. At any rate, there appeared to be 5 other students in there. Two freshman playing Yu-Gi-Oh (he knew their names faintly: Gavin and Lisa) , Raidon, William, and a senior girl whose name he was sure started with a M. Simon didn't think she was part of the club, and didn't care about that either way.

"Hello." He said quietly. He knew the two male seniors through this club, though they didn't talk much. William was about as quiet as he was and something about Raidon was off-putting to him. The latter was a ridiculous assumption; Simon shouldn't be so uncomfortable with someone he barely knew. Maybe it was because Raidon was so driven by his grades that he sometimes felt that the other boy looked down on him. Simon wanted to show his academic reports from junior high to him-from the days when he thought about little more then his grades- and prove that he was much more intelligent then Raidon had even seemed to give him credit for. These thoughts, however, seemed silly and pointless. Raidon had been nothing but kind to him.

Simon went to the shelf and picked out a cheap, plastic game of Mah-Jongg, before realizing that there was nobody to play it with him. He was used to the members of the club from last year, who had either graduated or chose to focus on other things. He put the game back where he got it from and looked around, as if to check if anyone knew had entered the room since he had. Because nobody had morphed in out of the edges of his vision, Simon decided on a new and different coarse of action then before.

He walked over to the senior girl. Simon didn't know her at all, but today seemed to be a good day to finally meet all the members of his class that he had never talked to. "Hello, I hadn't seen you before. I'm Simon Fletcher." He took a seat beside her. William and Raidon were both above his skill level at chess; it would be extremely interesting to see how a match between the two would play out.

It seem as soon as Michelle sat down someone else came into the classroom. Michelle look at the short scrawny boy as he enter the room. She then soon shrug him off not knowing his name or caring to know it and went back to look to see when the match will start.

As her thoughts wander off Michelle was surprise to see she was being address. She turn to see the same scrawny boy introducing himself. While not one to talk Michelle knew better then being impolite and gave him a soft smile. She back away from the table to give some room for her to talk with Simon without distracting the two players.

"Michelle O'Cain and I'm sure you haven't met me before. I just wander by here since I had nothing to do... To be honest I'm not actually into games there too restrictive I find. I just wanna watch and compare it to some ancient war... You know to past the time? Sorry I'm just mumbling off..." She finish saying. She didn't really wanted to talk about herself and she didn't expect Simon to be amuse by this either. "Ummm... If it's ok with you what do you think of those two skill level from one to ten?" She ask to give herself a brief idea of the battle to come and a change of awkward subject.

"Michelle O'Cain and I'm sure you haven't met me before. I just wander by here since I had nothing to do... To be honest I'm not actually into games there too restrictive I find. I just wanna watch and compare it to some ancient war... You know to past the time? Sorry I'm just mumbling off...Ummm... If it's ok with you what do you think of those two skill level from one to ten?" Michelle asked.

Simon nodded. Now that he thought about it, he'd seen this girl before. Really, she was hard to miss with her distinctive hair colour and clothing. She was in another period of his AP History class. He looked at the two students preparing to play chess again.

"Just by one number? I wouldn't say that I'm a master of chess or anything, so it's not my place to judge. I would say, though, no less then an eight for either of them." Simon finished.

"Oh, I'm sure it will," Raidon replied politely. He studied the board and decided he'd be black.

"It's been some time since I came, is all," he continued, setting up the pieces on his side of things. "I didn't know if we'd picked up any new members." He grimaced. "Finals and all...kept things from being easy." He finished setting up his pieces and relaxed back into his seat.

Two new people entered the room. The one--the girl--asked if she could watch the game. Raidon, not used to having an audience (not a whole lot of people thrilled to watch Chess...then again, they had Starcraft leagues in Korea, so who was he to judge?), nodded and replied curtly, "Raidon. Feel free." A boy joined her abruptly and the two began to assess his skill level. Here, Raidon felt his concentration break off again--he'd just finished adjusting a Bishop, he felt he had some time. "An eight?" Raidon chuckled. "You flatter me. A five or six, perhaps. I'm nothing special."

He was surprisingly pleased with the compliment, however. Odd.

William settled into his chair as he watched Raidon choose his colour.
"That makes me white, alrighty then…" He muttered to himself, beginning to set up his own pieces.

"Finals and all...kept things from being easy."

"I hear you there." He said, nodding at that comment. Finals had been hell for him at least, and he couldn't imagine anyone else had it much easier. Placing the final piece in place, he began to survey the board, thinking of his move.
"If I move the knight there, then that opens up that, but if I start with a pawn…" He mumbled, hand hovering over his own pieces. His train of thought was quickly interrupted however, as two new people walked into the room, one a girl who he didn't know, and the other was named Simon he believed.

"My name is Michelle... Umm... I'm just here to watch so please just keep playing your game"

"Uhh, alright." William responded, finding that a bit weird, but he supposed everyone was different. "Oh yeah, I'm William by the way." He said, then went back to planning his move, though he continued to listen in a bit, curiosity now peaked as Simon joined their little group.

"Just by one number? I wouldn't say that I'm a master of chess or anything, so it's not my place to judge. I would say, though, no less then an eight for either of them."

"I wouldn't actually know a number, eight might be a bit high, I play for fun mainly." He said, turning to Simon, then picking up his queen side knight and placing it two spaces in front of the bishop it was beside.

Simon leaned back in his chair, focusing on the game. He had always been a watcher. When his sister had played video games, he would sit by her side and watch her playing, while making quiet conversation. Maybe he just liked seeing how other people came up with solutions to their problems, and how their choices differed from his. It didn't seem interesting to a lot of people, but Simon couldn't understand why.

Even though it seemed that both Raidon and William had shot down his evaluation, his still smiled faintly. "It won't do to be modest, either of you." Simon stated cheerfully. "Remember, I've seen you play pretty much since I entered high school. People are generally harder on themselves then others, aren't they?" He didn't really expect an answer to his question.

In general, Simon decided that not thinking about Finals was the best decision. He did well enough; he always did well enough, but there was the undercurrent of always knowing he could have pushed himself harder. Simon always looked at the past with regret. even though he knew in his head that he'd done fine. Good enough was the word Simon was positive that people associated with him the most.

At any rate, he let go of that train of thought quickly. It seemed that being in this room always made Simon feel a little worse about himself. He knew that this fact was probably enough to make he leave the club, but somehow it was too entertaining to quit. Simon liked the games of Chess and Mah-Jongg, he liked the feeling of being a part of something, he liked seeing what the other members would do next. That was a worthwhile reward for a bit of an ego-killer for Simon.

With that thought in mind, he continued watching the game once more.

Raidon's mouth twisted, watching the board. Finals had been positively nerve-wracking. He'd done very well in school so far--he would not be falsely modest about that, it had been a monumental effort but one which had been worth the pay-off. A 4.0 grade average and all the hardest classes Bayview offered, nothing to sneeze at. Not to mention that he had been living on his own the whole time.

"You may play for fun," Raidon commented. "But you'll probably do very well. I'm terrible at delivering a checkmate." He pasued, then smiled. "My main claim to fame is the fact that I haven't lost a game since I've been here. I've been able to stalemate...what, thirty or forty games?" He chuckled. "My friend calls me the "Stalemate King"."

His fingers were drumming along the desk, his eyes narrowed. What next what next what...hmm. He was running out of topics of conversation. He moved his knight to threaten Will's bishop and leaned back in his chair. "Perhaps I'm waxing too philosophical," Raidon grumbled. "But tell me, is anyone else feeling a bit...listless?" He kept his eyes on the board.

"I know what you mean." Simon stretched his arms out slightly. "I've been missing a lot of energy lately. I had it chalked down to senioritis, though." He smiled faintly. It was true that there seemed to be an eerie sort of calm around him this days. It must have came from thinking out his future. That always seemed to make him feel divided; half excited about what would happen, half gut-wrenchingly nervous. There seemed to be no middle ground between the two feelings at all, and they switched quickly. That was what probably drained all his energy.

Simon glanced at his watch. "Oh frak." He muttered under his breathe, before looking up at everyone. "Uh, nice meeting you Michelle. Good to see you guys again, Raidon and William." He almost jumped out of his seat, swinging his bag onto his left shoulder. "Have a nice time!"

And with that, Simon Fletcher came rather close to sprinting outside of the room and down the hall.

((Simon Fletcher continued in Ambigious Plans))

William glanced at the two observers as Raidon made his move. He wasn't used to having people watch him play chess, and quite frankly it was a bit unnerving. He had never quite been quite comfortable with people he didn't know well.

Switching his attention back to the game, he went through a few moves mentally in his head, trying to decide on the best course of action. If he moved his rook, he'd expose his Queen. "So… that's right out." He mumbled.

"My friend calls me the "Stalemate King"."

William couldn't help but chuckle at Raidon's comment. "Oh, I'm sure its not as bad as that, besides, there are worse things you could be known as." He commented, glancing back at the chess board. Coming to a conclusion, William decided his best course of action was to move one of his pawns to dissuade Raidon from taking his bishop.

"But tell me, is anyone else feeling a bit...listless?"

William turned his attention back to Raidon after that comment. "A little, I've been feeling somewhat drained since finals." He said, leaning back in his chair.

"Uh, nice meeting you Michelle. Good to see you guys again, Raidon and William."

William glanced over at Simon with that. "Yeah, see you around. Take care." He said, giving a little nod to him.

Michelle watch as the opening moves were done. She paid little attention to the conversation between Simon and Raidon. While she didn't bother to listen she did notice Simon suddenly getting up and leaving after saying goodbye. She nodded and wave farewell and went back to paying attention to game. She finally understood how the game work like how pawns move forward and eat diagonally, knight eat in a L shape and so on.

She finally tore her eyes away from the game too look at the two players

First was William who seem... on edge. She look at the boy and stared at him to see what was wrong.

Is he... nervous that I'm here? She wondered. She seen it happen a bit in fencing when there was a larger crowd. Some fencers would become nervous and fight less well. Of course Michelle couldn't care less... Like she ever care about anything really that was. Strangely this situation did actually cause her to react a bit. She didn't enjoy the fact someone was doing worst due to her presence.

"William am I bothering you? Is my presence causing you to be nervous?" She asked. Not quite one waiting for a reply she look at Raidon next. The small Japanese boy was quite a sight that even Michelle acknowledge it. But what stood out for her was the beautiful black hair. What a sight it was for her. Almost without quite knowing it she reach out and stroke Raidon hair for a moment before realizing her action. She quickly pull back her hand not out of embarrassment but the fear of cause a large distraction.

"Oh um... Sorry Raidon it was by reflex... I didn't mean to touch your hair... Well I did but not during the game... And I mean not without your permission... Sorry just ignore me from now on... Both of you... She said stumbling over her words. She found herself kinda funny over her actions but stop herself from laughing. The poor boys are probably thinking of her as annoying. Not that she felt bad about it but she knew it would ruin the game.

But most of all at least she was allowed to touch that beautiful black hair. The young Japanese certainly was quite the sight apart from his short size. If she had to compare him to someone it was... Zhou Yu from ancient china. Both beautiful but intelligent.

For William... Nervous when on the spot but consider highly intelligent... She grin... William Sherman was the perfect match. She started imagining the battle between the Chinese strategist and the American general. She wonder how it would of went if the two fought... Well maybe this was a small glimpse of it.